The Chicago Bears lost a key contributor on offense with tight end Cole Kmet lost for the season to a serious knee injury in Thursday night's win over the New England Patriots. With Kmet out for the season with a knee injury, the Bears must rely on rookie tight end Sam Roush to step up.

With Kmet sidelined, Roush is the top reserve tight end behind starter Colston Loveland for the remainder of the season. But Bears head coach Ben Johnson is confident that Roush will rise to the occasion as he sees extended action for the duration of his rookie season.

"We’ve been very pleased with the improvement that [Roush] has made over these first seven weeks, and so there’s a high likelihood that his rep count is going to go up as a result of what’s going on here," Johnson said. "We’ll be able to see the player that we drafted. We had high hopes when we took him. Very smart player. He had some rookie hiccups early in the season like everybody does, and yet he learns. He doesn’t make the same mistake twice, and I’m confident in what he’s going to be able to do for us here the back half of the season."

Perhaps his biggest mistake so far this season was against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2. Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers blocked a field goal from Chicago kicker Cairo Santos; Roush was responsible for blocking him. He was also called for a penalty earlier in that game, which derailed a promising drive for the Bears’ offense.

Roush’s offensive snap count reached an all-time low in Chicago’s Week 5 loss to the Green Bay Packers, with only five snaps, but he had a career-high in offensive snaps the next week against the Atlanta Falcons with 24 snaps. Through the first seven games, he has three receptions for 33 yards and is still looking for his first touchdown in the NFL.